Nicole Kidman Tribute: The Stepford Wives (2004)

by Christopher James

You never forget your first. My first Kidman - The Stepford Wives.

Is the movie good? I will always have a soft spot for it, but it does not fully work. There are glimpses of a great movie, thanks in large part to genuine laugh-out-loud joke lines in Paul Rudnick’s script. Not many people would recommend this as a first Kidman viewing, but it perfectly illustrates one of the qualities that I think makes her one of our greatest actresses - fearless commitment to one’s character. I take that back. The introduction of Joanna Eberhart is a perfect introduction to Nicole Kidman...

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Tribeca Review: Lost at Sea in “Beacon”

By Abe Friedtanzer 

Sailing around the world is a bold adventure that few are equipped to undertake and even fewer would even seriously contemplate. The likelihood of survival given unpredictable factors isn’t high, and that’s especially true for someone choosing to do it alone. Beacon presents one scenario where a young and driven woman tries to accomplish the feat only to find herself stranded somewhere with a man who seems nice enough but who she really isn’t sure she can trust…

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1974: An Ode to "Female Trouble" and Taffy Davenport

by Nick Taylor

As regular TFE commenter par pointed out in the comments for my Tina Holmes piece last week, there’s a lot of supporting actresses from 1999 who I could honor this Pride month. It’s a very tempting idea, and though many of those women will likely get their flowers later in the year - who wouldn’t want to pick over Election as the nonsense of the US Presidential race really starts heating up? - I think this is a terrific opportunity to hop across major eras and remind folks that, hey, queers have been around and making films for a long fucking time. We’ve been rubbing our grubby hands all over cinema since its inception.

If we’re talking about queer cinema, and if we’re talking about a peak among peaks, there’s really nowhere else to go but Female Trouble, John Waters’ inspiring ode to troubled teen flicks from the ‘50s, and the perfect performances of Mink Stole and Hilary Taylor as Taffy Davenport . . . .

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Tribeca Review: Kitchen Chaos in “La Cocina”

By Abe Friedtanzer 

Most people probably don’t want to see behind the curtain of the fancy restaurants they go to, since things are surely not as glamorous – or appetizing – as they might seem. Cinematic antics aren’t likely in as full supply in reality as they might be in movies and television, but the presentation of a dish still doesn’t come without all the messy preparation behind-the-scenes that goes into it. There can, however, be fascinating stories to go with the food, and La Cocina proves that with a mesmerizing tale of the kitchen of a Times Square restaurant brimming with drama, tension, and lots of flavor…

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Tribeca Review: Probing Motivations in “McVeigh”

By Abe Friedtanzer

It’s an unfortunate societal reality that the perpetrators of terrible crimes inevitably become famous. Rather than focus on immortalizing the names of the victims, it’s the person who took their lives who is often best remembered by the public. That may well be because it’s hard to understand what could push someone to do such a thing, and even with confessions, a motive may still remain unknown long after a criminal’s death. Mike Ott’s McVeigh looks at one of the most infamous domestic terrorists in United States history and constructs a narrative around why he did what he did...

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